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Isola del Garda |
The photo above is one I took on a boat as we were leaving one of the the islands in Lake Garda, Isola del Garda so that's why it's a bit skew whiff. I do love that house and it's wonderful Italian & English gardens. It's so peaceful there.
The current house isn't that old really, but it's history goes a long way back. Cutting it short Gallic Roman tombstones were found on the island & around 1220 St Francis of Assisi built a simple hermitage there as he believed it was an ideal place for his monks. By 1797 Napoleon suppressed the monastery and later it became a state owned property.
By 1860 it had been given to the army and then it was sold to private owners. I won't go into the detail but the villa was built in Neo Gothic Venetian style and is currently owned by the Cavazza family who live there. They open the house to the public and rent it for occasions such as weddings in order to restore and maintain it.
My favourite bit is the terrace. This is where we ended up having some nibbles. There were bits of bread to dip in the olive oil produced from the family's olive groves, local cheeses, olives, water, orange juice and a glass of delicious white wine.
Just imagine having your breakfast or any meal up here. This is the terrace (I think they called it the loggia) looking up from the ground level.
The design is lovely.
The ceiling is wonderful too. However the guide explained that it wasn't painted in situ, it was taken from a building and placed there!
The views are fantastic.
Unfortunately the day we were visiting was a little hazy for taking photos of the lake, it was really hot too but up on the terrace it was shady and a little cooler.
These are some shots from the gardens. I had to keep on the move with the group and keep an eye on some elderly passengers so the photos were taken really quickly and are not the best!
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Sadly the tour came to an end so quickly and we returned by boat to Desenzano, our base for the week there.
